


Can't Clip these Wings

by skeletonWings (checkeredbow)



Series: Middle of Nowhere [2]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: I mean this kinda turned into more gen really, M/M, but welp, like i totally meant to write something more couple-y, so tagging jic, ymmv on the violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8062192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkeredbow/pseuds/skeletonWings
Summary: Robin gets fired.





	

"Oh, look!" Artemis pointed at a screen in the corner of the multi-monitor setup. She was standing watch with Miss Martian and Aqualad in the main room of Mt. Justice. The grid of screens mounted onto a stalactite displayed various locations around the world. On the particular screen that she was pointing at, a man was robbing a bank in Star City. "Oh, no, wait. Green Arrow's got it," she sighed.

"How about that one?" Miss Martian noticed a screen showing a large monster tearing up a building and people running away. Surely people needed rescuing! She immediately levitated off the ground, ready to start up the Bio-ship.

"Wait!" Aqualad yelled, but kept his eyes glued to the screen. A flash of blue zipped from one side of the screen to the other. In a matter of seconds, the monster was lying flat on the ground with the whites of its eyes showing. A crowd cheered as Superman waved to everyone from the air. "Superman took care of it."

"...Oh," Miss Martian's shoulders slumped and she landed on the ground again.

"I see something going on in Gotham City," Aqualad nodded at the center screen.

"Ha! Forget it," Artemis laughed, "Batman's going to tie us up the moment we step foot in there in costume!"

"Perhaps if we go with Robin, he won't be upset? He is back from whatever business he and Batman had, right?" Aqualad suggested and Artemis shrugged. Robin had gone on a temporary absence two months ago. He had reportedly returned a week or so ago, but she hadn't seen him.

"Worth a try!" Miss Martian grinned at them, "Beats being bored here. Let's call him--" No sooner had she said that, the Zeta tube flashed and announced Robin's arrival.

"Speak of the Devil," Artemis grumbled, but ran up to Robin with a smile on her face. Robin had arrived in his civilian clothing: designer shades, designer jeans, designer t-shirt, and five hundred dollar leather jacket. Artemis had been a little disgruntled when she first realized Robin was made of money since she didn't come from the best part of Gotham herself, but she got over it in the way friends got over one of them getting the last, cutest blouse in the whole store. Jealousy that blooms into happiness because _good for you_. "Suit up, Robin! We're going to Gotham city!" she grinned as she grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him toward the Zeta tubes.

Robin didn't budge and the frown that had been etched on his face since he walked in remained.

"Robin?" Artemis drew back and looked at the boy in the face. She couldn't see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but everyone in the room could tell he was glaring hard at all of them.

"Robin, is something wrong?" Miss Martian asked as she walked up to him with Aqualad.

Robin was silent, but all three of them could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. Artemis was almost concerned that the heat would knock out Miss Martian and Aqualad.

Finally, Robin moved.

In one swift motion, he pulled the sunglasses off his face and revealed baby blue eyes to his teammates for the first time. He wasn't looking at them, just glaring off to the side with clenched teeth. "Do what you want," he gritted and swung his arm loose from Artemis to stalk to the staircase and up to their personal rooms in the cave.

For a moment, the three of them didn't say anything, just stared at where Robin had gone with their mouths wide open. Artemis in particular was still as a statue.

"Didn't Batman forbid Robin from telling us his identity?" Miss Martian questioned some ten minutes later.

Aqualad nodded, "...Yea, he didn't even tell me. I think only Kid Flash knew (and that's because they're dating)."

"Does that mean Batman changed his mind?"

"I can't imagine so. Maybe Robin's rebelling?"

"Batman is Robin's hero, I can't imagine _that_."

"Your guess is as good as mine, then."

A choked sound pulled Miss Martian and Aqualad out of their conversation and the two of them turned to find Artemis still standing frozen behind them.

"Artemis! Are you okay?!" Miss Martian immediately started searching for a pulse. Did she get hit by something while they weren't paying attention? Was there poison in the air? Did an enemy get in--

Artemis made another choked sound as she shook her head, but before Aqualad could order Miss Martian to help bring her to the infirmary, she squeaked out, "Robin's Dick Grayson??!"

 

"I still can't believe he's Dick Grayson," Artemis mumbled as the Team gathered in the living room. Robin's actions had been shocking enough to earn them a team meeting. Currently, she sat next to Kaldur'ahm with M'Gann and Conner opposite them. They had called up Kid Flash and said that something was wrong with Robin.

"What?!" Wally was still at school and had screamed into the phone in a panic. "Is he okay? Who kidnapped him?" he yelled and Artemis could hear the static of wind rushing past the receiver as Wally changed into his costume, ready to go save his boyfriend from whatever unspeakable, terrible evil that dared touch him.

"No, no one kidnapped him!" Artemis quickly explained.

"What?" it was a more calmer _what_ this time.

"No one kidnapped him!" Artemis repeated, "But something's wrong with Dick-- I mean, Robin--"

"Dick?!" Wally repeated this time, his voice spiking up an octave. "Whatdoyoumean _Dick_?!"

"He took off his sunglasses. Something's wrong with him, Wally."

"I'll... I'll be right over," there was a click and the phone call ended.

Currently, Wally was upstairs trying to coax Dick out of his room so they could have a talk downstairs.

"Why not?" Conner asked in response to Artemis's earlier statement.

"Dick Grayson is nothing like Robin!" she blurted out, "Dick Grayson is a flirtatious ass at school!"

"...Oh?" everyone looked at her.

"He'd use dumb pick up lines on no less than five girls every morning before class."

"Oh, do you now, Dick?" Wally asked as he walked down the stairs with Dick, hand in hand. Artemis grimaced. Perhaps she said too much.

Dick shrugged, "A cover's a cover." He walked over and flopped down next to Artemis on the couch. Artemis wished he didn't because now Wally had to squeeze in next to him. Kaldur'ahn took the hint and moved to the other couch to sit next to Conner. "Hey, beautiful, why would I want to go to class if I can go on a date with you?" Dick joked and Artemis gave him a light punch on the arm.

"And here I thought you only used the corny ones on me," Wally rolled his eyes and put an arm around Dick's shoulders, pulling him close to snuggle with. "Alright everyone. Let me break the ice and introduce you to my boyfriend, Dick Grayson."

Not even a smirk. Tough crowd.

 

Not everyone on the team wore a mask, but all of them knew each others' identities for the most part. M'Gann, Conner, and Kalder'ahn weren't human and didn't have a life they needed to protect on American soil. There wasn't really a need for them to disguise themselves when they went into battle. Artemis and Wally had a private life, but trusted their new friends with their secret identities the moment they joined the team.

But Dick Grayson didn't.

No, that wasn't the case. He wanted to, but he couldn't.

Batman said he couldn't.

The thought of it made him grit his teeth and clench his fists. He had followed Batman's word to the _T_ and look where it got him! Goddammit!

"Dick," Wally's voice was layered with concerned and the older boy pulled him closer. Dick relaxed slightly and let himself melt against Wally. Then, he sat up straight, guilt stuck in his throat, unwilling to go anywhere else. Dammit, why did Wally have to be so kind to him? "What's wrong?"

Dick snuck a peek at everyone. They were all looking at him in concern and the guilt felt twice as bad. Dammit, he had made such a spectacle of himself and worried his friends. It was one thing to get attention and create smiles and laughter, but this wasn't fair to them. His secret identity wasn't the only secret he kept from them.

He took a deep breath.

"I got fired. I'm not Robin anymore."

There was a collective gasp, not at the same time, from everyone.

"He... He can do that?" M'Gann asked.

"No, he can't!" Conner answered for Dick, "You're Robin! No one can decide for you that you aren't!"

"Well, he clearly did," Dick grumbled.

"Rob-- Dick," Kalder'ahn corrected himself, "Conner's right. You get to make your own choices. What do you want to do?"

Dick sighed and leaned back against the couch. He considered snuggling up against Wally, be friendly like he normally did. The guilt was nagging at him, though. On top of that, Wally was being uncharacteristically quiet. Dick wondered if he caught on, put two and two together. _He's sure to lecture me about it later_ , he thought. And he would deserve it. Boyfriends don't keep secrets like that from one another. _Teammates_ don't keep secrets like that from one another. Still, he couldn't bring himself to say it. He settled for just answering what Kalder'ahn asked and nothing more, "I.. I don't know. He told me to leave. ...I did. I came here," he rolled his eyes, "Watch him come here and fire me again."

"We would _never_ let him do that!" Artemis said immediately.

Next to him, Wally grabbed his arm and squeezed tightly.

Dick's lips raised upwards in a quick smile, "Thanks, guys." He sighed again before shrugging Wally off and standing up, "But I think I'm going to need some time off anyways."

He couldn't stay here for much longer. Not if all those concerned faces were making the guilt rise higher and higher up his throat. His secrets all threatened to spill out and he didn't want that to be it. He didn't want to make them angry just because of some dumb word vomit tantrum he would throw because of _Batman_.

"Dick, you don't--"

"Give us a call when you're ready, okay?" Wally cut Artemis off as he stood up and gave Dick a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Thanks, I'll see you guys later," he walked out of the room and a few minutes later everyone heard the sound of the Zeta tube teleporting Dick out of the cave.

"Wally, are you sure that was a good idea?" M'Gann asked.

"You guys didn't try to stop him, either."

"Because we can after _you_ gave him the okay," Conner snorted, "Why'd you do that anyways?"

"Because," Wally's lips turned upwards into a bitter smile, "Now, he can't be there to stop me when I punch Batman in the face. Who else wants to go?"

There was a brief pause before Artemis stood up and went to get her arrows. Miss Martian changed into her stealth suit and went to get the Bio-ship. Superboy remained seated, but nodded in reply.

"This is not a Team operation," Kalder'ahn stated.

"You don't have to come. I won't hold it against you," not all of them could afford to cause an argument between Batman and their mentor.

"I know, but I just wanted to make it clear for the records," Aqualad stood up and stretched, "We're going to get ourselves killed. But that's nothing new."

"Alright! Operation Punch-Batman-in-the-Face is a go!"

 

"You tried to take out the Batman," Dick said as he pulled the bandages tight around Wally's arms.

"Ow ow ow, too tight!" he hissed, but Dick didn't relent on his hold. "And don't say it like that. _The_ Batman. Why does he get a title? You should call me _The_ Kid Flash!"

"KF," Dick looked him in the eyes and held him in a serious stare down. Wally looked back for a total of ten seconds before leaning in and stealing a kiss. "Mmf!" Dick launched himself backwards and plopped himself on the bed.

Wally leaned down to steal another kiss--

"Ow ow ow!" he sat back down and doubled over, "Bruised ribs. Right. Ugh. Why couldn't Batman have gone easier on us?"

"You stormed the Batcave."

"So?"

"And tried to sneak up on him from behind. You _never_ sneak up on the Batman from behind."

Wally pouted in response, "How's everyone else?"

"-Cuperating in their rooms."

"Hah!"

Dick smiled in response. The last cut was bandaged now and he leaned over to kiss Wally.

"Thanks."

"Does this mean you'll go back to being Robin and stay with the Team?"

The smile disappeared from Dick's face, "...I don't know. I... I need some time to think about things."

"What's there to think about? You love being Robin! Don't let some stupid fight with Batman stop you! And you've got all of us! We want you to be Robin. We _need_ you to be Robin."

"I..."

"C'mon, Rob! Please!"

Dick pulled away and looked down, formulating the words he would say. It wasn't that he wanted to leave the Team. There were a few things he had to ... correct, but ultimately, this was his fight with Batman. He was pretty angry at Batman, but the Team had nothing to do with that. "Being Batman's my dream, you know? Even on days that I reconsidered it, I still thought that I would be by his side forever. And now, he doesn't even want me there."

 _And maybe I wasn't ever meant to be_ , he bit back those words. He didn't want the guilt of worrying Wally or the rest of the Team further.

"So--"

"Wally, just... let me think about this for a little bit."

"I'm not stopping you."

"But you are doing stupid things," Dick stood up and packed up the first aid kit, "I'll see you tomorrow, Wally." He leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"See you tomorrow, Dick."

Dick exited the room and Wally flopped down on his bed. He winced as his bruised ribs complained at the sudden movement.

Whatever decision Dick would come up with, it didn't matter. Dick wasn't leaving the Team. Because just like how you can't fire and quit a dream, you can't just fire and quit your friends either.

**Author's Note:**

> In the middle of my giant writer's block, I decided I wanted to write about Dick getting comforted on his transition from Robin to Nightwing... since it never really explained that in the TV show.


End file.
